I'm reading this book by Pema Chodron (a Buddhist teacher), and in it she talks about the difference between theism and nontheism... I have never heard of either so at first as I was reading this part I was basically skimming instead of actually paying attention. It was unfamiliar, boring sounding, and was not doing it for me. But as I continued to read, her comparisons and explanations started to spike more interest in me and I ended up rereading this section several times. For those of you who are also naive to these words I will quote her, "The difference between theism and nontheism is not whether one does or does not believe in God. It is an issue that applies to everyone, including both Buddhists and non-Buddhists. Theism is a deep-seated conviction that there's some hand to hold: if we just do the right things, someone will appreciate us and take care of us.... Nontheism is relaxing with the ambiguity and uncertainty of the present moment without reaching for anything to protect ourselves. It's realizing the truth of impermanence and change." I think I am a non-theist. I never connected with prayer. Asking "God" to do things as if "he" has the ability to make everyone's wishes come true. I believe that our existence is not a random accident. I also believe that there is more than what we experience here on Earth, but what that is I have not decided.
This isn't even the part that is really blowing my mine though. It's the next part she goes into... Theist's embrace hope, where non-theists abandon hope.
She is basically saying we should abandon hope. This challenged everything that I thought was what we were supposed to do as a society... have hope... In this sense, abandoning hope means embracing the present as it exists. If you are hoping that you win the lottery you are robbing yourself of living a full life with the means you have..., in my case, if I constantly hope that my knee will get better, I hinder my ability to thrive with the knee I have in the way it exists.
So... abandoning hope and accepting everything as it is, fully appreciating its organic qualities, and living wholely and completely in each moment sounds amazingly freeing. Why doesn't everybody do this? Why is hope and desire so addicting? Is hopelessness the answer we have all been searching for? But here is another question, how do you set goals, make changes, better yourself, improve your situation if you are always present and never looking into the future and what you want it to look like?
So many questions...
